Lawyer: Feather supports claim that owl killed Peterson

DURHAM -- Larry Pollard hopes a microscopic feather will add weight to his theory that a violent owl killed Kathleen Peterson.

Pollard insists that he has hit on a report from the State Bureau of Investigation that could free Michael Peterson, who was convicted of killing his wife, Kathleen Peterson.

But Durham District Attorney David Saacks has his doubts that more study of a microscopic feather would change the outcome of a 14-week jury trial that ended with Peterson getting a life sentence.

Pollard, a former neighbor of the Petersons, hopes to change the prosecutor’s mind with evidence that was handed over to Peterson’s defense team before the 2003 verdict.

For more than four years, Pollard has hypothesized that a neighborhood owl, not a fancy fireplace poker, caused the blunt-force trauma and head wounds that drained the life from Kathleen Peterson in December 2001.

Today he stood before local TV news crews and newspaper reporters and tried to bolster his case.

Pollard is keenly aware of the ridicule cast his way for his hypothesis that an owl caused the bloodshed at his neighbor’s place.

"The district attorney’s office dismissed it as absurd, citing the absence of feathers, and most people labeled it as ridiculous," Pollard said at the news conference this morning. "Always the same question was asked by the authorities and the press: 'Where are the feathers?' Well, folks, we are here today announcing the feather has been found."

An SBI report lists the presence of a microscopic feather mixed in with hair that Kathleen Peterson had clutched in her left hand.

Pollard dismissed the possibility that the feather could have been goose-down, which often is found in pillows and comforters.

"It’s not that often you have goose down floating around in the middle of the night," Pollard said in response to a reporter’s question.

Pollard, a businessman and lawyer, has spent years gathering information — from the medical examiner's office, at North Carolina museums, and in his own backyard where he snapped photos of owls in nearby trees.

With stuffed screech and barred owls as props today, the longtime Durham resident described his theory of what happened the night Kathleen Peterson was found dead inside her 11,000-square-foot home on Dec. 9, 2001, face-up in a pool of blood at the base of a staircase.

Pollard thinks an owl swooped down on her outside her home, sunk its sharp, bony talons covered with microscopic feathers into the back of her head, knocked her down and then sent her running for cover inside with her hands over her bloody wounds.

Pollard speculates that Kathleen Peterson, in a drunken and injured state, made it inside, eventually passed out, maybe once, maybe twice, and then bled to death.

In January, two months after the state Supreme Court upheld Peterson’s conviction, Polllard got a call from Peterson, who is serving a life sentence in Nash Correctional Institution.

A local TV station had aired a story about two Apex businessmen who had been attacked by a territorial owl, and the assault had been caught on videotape.

Peterson encouraged Pollard to push ahead with his theory and wrote him two letters from prison authorizing him to act as his lawyer for that specific defense.

Kris Cox, one of the victims of the owl attack in Apex, was at the news conference today to try and lend credence to Pollard’s theory.

Cox, 32, a Cary resident who owns a graphics company, said Pollard had shown him autopsy photos that made him question whether a fireplace poker caused Kathleen Peterson’s injuries.

"In my opinion, something doesn’t add up," Cox said. "You don’t whack somebody with a poker and pull on it. I believe an owl can do some serious damage."

Raptor experts across the country have said they know of no fatal owl attacks. Still Pollard has compiled a notebook with photos and information about the sharp-taloned birds, hoping to persuade prosecutors to free Peterson.

Saacks, who was not the district attorney when the case was tried in 2003, said he doubts evidence of a microscopic feather will make much difference.

"It still seems to us that this is a far-fetched theory to say the least," Saacks said. "To me, it’s not consistent with all the evidence at the scene."